A Gifted Interior Designer On The Rise

Mark Grattan has the honor of winning industry awards for presentations at events hosted by Architectural Digest and DWR. Mark has been featured in Architectural Digest, Elle Decor (including the 2023 A-List), T Magazine, Wallpaper, and more. Recently, Mark won the design contest program “Ellen’s Next Great Designer” and is currently a design consultant for Solange Knowles’ Saint Heron firm, allowing him to expand his ever-growing reach. Let’s have a look at the work of a gifted interior designer on the rise.

Growing up in New York, Mark Grattan’s earliest memory of the act of creation was mowing the grass at his family home. What seems banal from a materials perspective allowed him to create intricate patterns, and hone his attention to detail. From there, Mark picked up painting, starting with the use of pastels, which allowed him to work both within and outside of the lines – something that his work continues to deal with today.

At 17, Mark was admitted and given a scholarship to the pre-college program at Pratt. He drew nudes, forms, experimented with charcoal, and became obsessed with light and shadow and the power of proportion. These things felt natural to him, natural enough for him to be able to synthesize how all of those things related very quickly. He then completed his undergraduate degree at Pratt as well, with a focus on furniture.

His father, for as long as he can remember, was a hobbyist woodworker. Mark’s pre-college years were when it all came together – the ideas of creating art and the concrete idea of craft and the act of ‘making’ – all together as one.

After graduating in the early 2000s, Mark continued his interest in materials and how that relates to the act of creating – working first for a lighting designer who blew their own glass, then finding himself in a situation where, for a time, he ran his own wood shop and created custom works for a select few clients. Mark Grattan is currently based between New York and Mexico City, with Mark finding equal amounts of inspiration in both places.